1. Music Like Water
2. Our Top-10 Truths of the Music Business
3. Futurizing some Popular Music Industry Myths
4. The Future of Music Marketing and Promotion
5. The Future of Music Distribution and Acquisition
6. The Digital Kids and the Changing Marketplace
7. A New Music Economy
8. How Technology Will Rewire the Music Business
9. Megatrends that Will Impact the Future of Music
10. Onto the Future

The record industry as we know it is dying. But the music industry is healthier and more vibrant than ever with limitless possibilities for change and growth due to the Internet and the digitization of music. The Future of Music will show you cool new ways to find music and connect with your favorite artists. Discover the top-10 truths about the music business of the future and how you can benefit from the explosion in digital music, today and tomorrow.

From free music and mp3 music downloads on Kazaa to legal music downloads from iTunes, Napster and Rhapsody to other forms of free music online, The Future of Music charts a music industry destined to embrace digital music, or so it seems. What will become of the music business, the music store, the independent and major record label, artists, writers, publishers, managers and others in the age of free music downloads and the ubiquitous mp3 file? Is there a better way for the industry to proceed?

The Future of Music punches gaping holes through the foundation of a record industry that refuses to adapt. If you love music, have discovered digital music and download or rip MP3 files on your computer, or download ring tones to your cell phone – then this book is for you.

This is a book about music and the music business in the twenty-first century. Imagine a world where music flows all around us, like water, or like electricity, and where access to music becomes a kind of “utility.” Not for free, per se, but certainly for what feels like free.

In this world, we share, contribute, collaborate, and trade music amid a constant flow of new songs that suit our tastes and preferences, without any palpable constraints or limitations. Music is ubiquitous and served up in easy, friendly formats. Like water, it is simply present just about everywhere, anytime.

Artists, writers, composers, and producers all prosper, both creatively and financially. The music industry is redefined from A to Z, as fairer, bigger, and better. Fans, artists, and all kinds of music communities drive the business, rather than being driven by corporate powers.

Synopsis

Ever since the invention of electricity, music and technology have worked hand-in-hand, and technology continues to catapult music to unprecedented heights. Today, because of the Internet and other digital networks, and despite all the legal wrangling, music is bigger than ever before. Within ten to fifteen years, the “Music Like Water” business model that we will outline in this book will make the industry two or three times larger than it is today.

Right now, the music industry is viewed as being in great turmoil. Technology has brought powerful and disruptive changes to the ruling incumbents. The best-selling CD in the U.S. is a blank, recordable one. Profits at the big record labels have dwindled and the markets for recorded music have virtually collapsed in many other parts of the world.

Will record companies go the way of horse-drawn carts? How will music companies make money in the future? Who will buy that is, pay for music, for how much, and on what terms? How do music fans feel about these developments, and how will the artists deal with this? How is it all going to shake out? Is the music industry just the first of the so-called “creative industries” to be sold out for free via the digital networks, or will everyone be better off in a world of ubiquitous media? Whose views will prove to be more correct: the recording industry’s legal sharks or burn-crazy downloading teenagers?

This book will examine the issues important to the future of music. We will uncover opportunities, plunge into challenges, serve up wildcards, and revel in utopia. We will move from mere facts through dazzling stories to far-out visions and fantasies. Our views, along with those of other artists, writers, and industry insiders, attempt to give some insight into what is really happening, and what it will mean for the people who love music and for the people who make music.

We see ourselves not as predicting the future by any scientific means, but as providing inspiration, in order to jumpstart your imagination and get you juiced up about the future of music. A brave new world is waiting for those who can handle it– a world that very likely holds fantastic business opportunities for creative thinkers. Enjoy!